


Dream Snooping

by CyberFlow



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Squigglydigg, Toon Henry AU, War, War Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-17 06:20:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11269737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberFlow/pseuds/CyberFlow
Summary: Having been toonified, Henry is capable of doing some of the stuff the same cartoons he used to animate can. He's also subject to involuntary cartoon-like conditions. After Bendy learns about this, he wonders if he can take advantage of it. What he finds, though, he would have rather discovered in another way.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! This story was inspired by the Toon Henry AU created by squigglydigg in Tumblr! So if you haven't seen that, well... You're probably not gonna understand what's happening here! I really suggest to go check it out, though, it's really cool and the art is super charming!

A slight grunting had called his attention. Henry lying on the floor of the meeting room, covered in the fine sleeping powder he had set as a trap earlier that day, had Bendy smiling maniacally. Oh, poor, poor, innocent Henry. He surely had thought he was finally outsmarting Bendy, finding all those ways to avoid him, always dodging his gags at the last minute. Fool. If only he slept a bit quieter, maybe he would have avoided reminding Bendy of his little plan. Now he was just there, with his back towards him. Bendy rubbed his hands as he thought of the possibilities.

But just _what_ , he wondered, could be the perfect thing to do in this scenario? He didn’t have to think much. After all, nothing ever beat the classics. He pulled out a fake rifle seemingly out of nowhere. Getting this right in Henry’s face would most likely give him a good scare, and Bendy could only imagine his face when he received a full blast of confetti. Ah, he was going to be absolutely furious! He tip-toed closer and closer, thinking how boring Henry was for not even having a funny snoring that would make it easier for him to approach. Once he’d gone around him, though, getting in the way of his shot was Henry’s stupid dream cloud-

A completely blank dream cloud. Huh. Bendy looked at it, mirroring Henry’s currently furrowed brow. He had seen Joey had similar ones, where it was impossible to tell what he was dreaming about. Maybe it was one of the things that differed between the real cartoons and the human-toons.

A grin made its way into his face as a very crazy idea struck him. Whatever Henry was dreaming about, it obviously wasn’t pleasant. If he could only take a peek, maybe he could find something embarrassing he could use against him in the future! Stifling a laugh, he reached for the cloud and zipped it open. Right before entering through the gap, he stuck his tongue out at Henry, already celebrating his soon-to-be advantage in their little game.

.

.

The transition was… weird, to say the least. Every previous time he had entered a dream (mostly to play with Boris in a place that wasn’t the studio) had felt more like going from one room to another. At that moment, he felt like he was floating and everything but himself was pitch darkness. The entrance he’d made for himself was nowhere to be seen either. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t getting at least a bit nervous. Bendy shook it off as the darkness finally started to dissipate and he felt himself slowly descending. The moment his feet touched the ground, the darkness plummeted down and disappeared.

The first thing he noticed was the red sky. Not blue, like Joey had taught them with a color palette on past days. A vibrant red. Bendy had always been curious about a world filled with actual colors, one with so many little details that the cartoon world apparently didn’t have. He wasn’t sure he liked this one. The ground was brown, or maybe gray, or maybe a darker red? He couldn’t quite tell. Looking around he noticed his surroundings were weirdly deserted. He frowned. If this was Henry’s dream, then he had to be close. In the distance he could see weird accumulations of wood and barbed wire. Looking the opposite direction got him the same sight. Maybe walking towards one would give him some clue of what was happening.

“GRENADE!”

He jumped at the warning, and sudden movement over him caught his eye. Before he could do anything to react, the round object exploded with a blinding light. Bendy instinctively covered his face, his eyes watering at the offense. He rubbed at them, the sudden ringing in his ears slowly fading away too. He wished it hadn’t. The screams were much more difficult to deal with. He tensed up. What was happening? The urge to run away immediately overcame the pain in his eyes. He forced himself to finally look up, hoping that there would be anywhere he could go. He wasn’t expecting all the people that had appeared out of nowhere. Nobody seemed to notice him, though. Bendy looked at everyone around him and gave a couple of steps back when he realized they were all holding weapons. Very real weapons that they were using. The sound of explosions surrounded him, as did the buzzing of bullets travelling right over his head. His breathing became labored as he realized what exactly Henry had been dreaming about.  Everybody was running, shooting… killing. All were in uniforms, none of them had faces.

Except two.

He almost didn’t recognize Henry. His face was covered in dirt and soot, almost hiding the fact that he looked several years younger. Having spotted his old creator, he latched his eyes to his figure and bolted towards him, not caring that he was far away. Right beside Henry was another man. He looked even younger than him, his face sometimes clear, sometimes blurry. Somehow, even at that distance, what most seemed to stand out about that man was his blonde hair. Henry seemed to be struggling to tell him something above all the noise while trying to aim a rifle himself. Bendy noticed the blond guy wasn’t holding a weapon.

A loud bang and Henry fell. Bendy froze on the spot. He held his breath, watching how the blond guy quickly kneeled to try and help. When Henry clutched his leg a second later, Bendy sighed in relief. But it was short lived, as the blonde guy was having a difficult time getting Henry to stand. Bendy wished he could help… But he realized he could, in fact! Just what was he _doing_? He was a cartoon! He could easily lift them both and take them to safety, he really could! But as he tried taking a step forward, he realized his legs weren’t responding. Bendy looked down, searching for whatever could be holding him back. But there was nothing. He tried with all his might to advance, but all he managed was to stumble forward and land on his stomach. He lifted his head, quickly catching sight of them. Henry’s comrade had managed to get him to lean on him, and was now advancing to what Bendy could only guess were trenches. At the same time, Bendy felt his legs lighten a little. Taking the opportunity, he stood up and started walking towards them as fast as he could, which… was frustratingly slow. There was a sense of urgency in him, a horrible feeling that pushed him to reach them.

And then one of the soldiers wearing a uniform different to Henry’s got a face. It was a blurred mess, but definitely there. And he was running towards the pair. Bendy tried to scream a warning, but he couldn’t hear his own voice over the chaos. Bendy tried. He tried, he tried, he _tried_! It was useless. The man reached them, but Henry caught on fast. He quickly pushed the blond guy away, managing to make the first shot miss them both. Having lost his support, Henry fell and landed on his wounded leg, causing him to scream in pain. Bendy fell as well. The enemy soldier went for Henry first, but the blond guy had grabbed Henry’s rifle. Unfortunately, he missed, only managing to grab the man’s attention. In a mere second, the enemy soldier turned around and shot him square on the chest. Henry screamed for his companion, causing his attacker to return his attention to him. The barrel of the soldier’s rifle was positioned right in Henry’s face. Henry could only shut his eyes close. A stray bullet saved him. The soldier fell, and Bendy could no longer distinguish him from the ground.

Henry quickly attempted to crawl towards the blond guy. He had to stop short, when the ground all around the blond guy started to shuffle. Something emerged forcefully from the earth and latched to the blond guy’s arm. It looked like a charred hand, with a pair of missing fingers. All around the blond guy, more and more started to appear. The sleeves on the arms were from both sides of the battle. They all grabbed him and started to pull down. By then, Henry was frantically trying to reach him, but no matter how much he seemed to claw at the ground, he didn’t advance an inch. The earth swallowed Henry’s friend whole, at which point the man could only watch in horror. Bendy looked down, having the terrifying thought of the number of people that could be right under him because of that same fate. He couldn’t dwell on it much, though. A round object had just landed right in front of him with a metallic sound.

“GRENADE!”

An incredible force pushed him backwards. Launched through the air, he felt a soft material on his back a second before slamming against a wall. He slid to the ground, a bit stunned from the impact. He looked up and saw a quickly disappearing Bendy-shaped hole in Henry’s dream cloud. Had it been in other circumstances, he would have thought it funny to be so forcefully removed from a dream. It would have normally happened because he was messing around in the dream, some mischief causing explosion gags or some trouble to laugh at. Right now, the last thing he wanted to do was laughing. He just sat there, looking at the dream cloud with an empty expression. It had been just a dream. He felt cold, he felt a tightness in his chest. Just a dream. He started to tremble, so he hugged himself trying to make it stop. Just a dream. Images of Henry’s nightmare were flashing through his mind and he wanted them to go away. _Just. A. Dream._ Bendy tried to convince himself that maybe that had been just Henry’s mind exaggerating what happened when he was drafted, that it couldn’t have been as terrible as that. He was afraid it could be quiet the opposite.

The familiar environment was helping him though, and after some of the longest seconds in his life, he managed to calm down. He slowly got up, fearing that his legs would once again fail him, but they managed like they would any other day. It had been all just a dream. More at ease, he approached Henry once again, who now was covered in sweat and whose face was contorted into an anguished expression. He looked over at his fake rifle on the ground and felt a pang in his chest that definitely could not be guilt. Bendy guessed that if he used classics all the time, his audience would get bored. Yeah, maybe he could try something new. Like maybe letting Henry sleep through the rest of the sleeping powder effects. That way when he woke up he would be paranoid about Bendy having done something to him while asleep. Of course, that would mean no loud noises around, so he would have to go and collect all the fake gun weapons in the studio and put them in a far away room. And lock that room. Forever.

Before he picked up the fake rifle, though, he caught sight of the dream cloud once again. He glared at it with all the hate he could muster. Then he looked down at Henry, whose expression had not changed in the least. Without having to consider it too much, he grabbed the sides of the cloud and started stretching it until it was completely round. Now it was a dream bubble! Bendy nodded at the new shape, and proceeded to take out a needle. With a prick, the dream bubble burst with a gentle pop. It wasn’t until Henry’s face had relaxed into a neutral expression that Bendy did pick up the rifle and went out the room. Now, it wasn’t that he had just made the old man a favor; it was just no use if when he woke up he was too tired to be paranoid. He just hoped he would be too tired to notice there was a new splat of ink on the wall of the meeting room.


	2. Wrong

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooo, I had intended this story to remain a one-shot, but some people’s comments (including one from Squigglydigg herself) gave me quite a bunch of ideas for an alternate timeline(?) that wouldn’t leave me alone. I should actually be studying, but I had no Internet for most of the day and I used that as an excuse to write this in two sittings, XD.  
> I’m not entirely convinced about the format and descriptions in this one but I don’t really know how to change it anymore. Hopefully this didn’t come out excessively angsty. And I hope I got Henry right! Last chapter he didn’t even get to talk, so this is my first time actually depicting him, haha! The story is both in ffnet and tumblr if that’s more your style! But enough talking already. I hope you enjoy!

The barrel of the rifle was right between his eyes. The kid had been shot. And now, his instincts were telling him to fight or flee, while the pain in his leg was telling him he could do neither. Paralyzed, all he could do was shut his eyes.

“Hey, old man! Wake up!”

Wake up? Was this a nightmare? Right, right. He had had this dream before, right? It _had_ to be a dream. Hope bubbled in his chest as, tentatively, he opened his eyes… and instantly regretted it. It was no dream. The gun was still there, aimed right at his forehead. The loud bang that came a second later made his whole system stop, made him close his eyes again. But there was no pain, no change at all. As soon as he was able to process this, he realized his enemy must have missed.

It was his chance. _He had a chance!_

In a mere second, he grabbed the front of the rifle and pushed back with all his strength. He felt the butt of the gun connecting with its holder, making him let go of it. Not being able to perceive the pain in his leg anymore, Henry scrambled to his feet and took aim. Problem was… there was no one there. Or rather, there was no one in his line of sight. He quickly noticed the change in his environment and his eyes darted around trying to identify the place. There was no red sky, no trenches, no faceless soldiers, no dead people. As he slowly stopped looking for a target, he started discerning other things. He could see wood, and chairs, and a big round table.

What fully brought him back to reality, though, was the little horned creature sitting at his feet. Bendy’s confused face instantly reminded him where he was. Not really a comforting thought, if he was being honest. His breathing hadn’t calmed down, and his mind was still screaming at him to get out of there if he didn’t want to die. Henry looked down. There was confetti over him and on the floor around him. The rifle in his hands felt too light to be real. Everything was taking so long to fathom, but sluggish as he felt, he was putting two and two together.

Alarms rang in his head when Bendy stood up and he instinctively aimed at him before remembering it was pointless. The abrupt reaction made Bendy raise his hands. Henry stared at him, and the longer he did, the angrier he got. What kind of messed up prank did he think he was playing on him? Did he really think this was _funny_? Sure, kill a guy! Why not his friends while he was at it! SO funny! The rifle started trembling under the pressure he was exerting with his hands. He took a shaky breath and swallowed. He needed to calm down.

“Hen-”

“No.”

Henry’s hoarse voice prevented the demon from taking a step towards him. He still couldn’t make his arms drop the rifle. He couldn’t stop aiming at Bendy’s head. He needed to get out of there.

“You. You stay. Right. There.” He moved backwards towards the door, not taking his eyes off the demon.

Bendy didn’t make an attempt to follow him. He didn’t seem to make an attempt to move at all. He just stood there, with a slight frown, studying him with his eyes. This only multiplied the uneasiness in his chest. The seconds before he reached the door were the longest of his life. As soon as he was out in the hallway, he slammed the door close. A few seconds passed before he could even think of what to do. Now alone, anger, fear and a feeling of vulnerability were flooding him. A shiver ran through his spine. The urge to fight back was overwhelming him. Lacking a target, he grabbed the rifle by both ends and rammed it against his knee. The fake weapon was easily bended, a reminder of its cartoony origin. Sudden rage against the object made Henry throw it against the wall. He grabbed at his head and decided to walk away. He really needed to calm down.

As he traversed through the halls, the sensation of someone aiming at his back started creeping through him. It was too open, too big. The sound of steps coming from around the next corner sent his mind into a panic. With a swift and quite motion, he entered the closest room to him. He leaned against the door. Hearing Boris and Alice’s voices passing by made him feel both relieved and ridiculous at the same time. Still, he was glad he was hidden; he didn’t want to have to explain his state at the moment. He let himself slide to the floor, barely registering that he was now in a (thankfully) small supply closet. Maybe his thoughts would be clearer if he could only get his darned breathing under control, if the sinking feeling in his stomach went away. He tugged at his hair in frustration.

This was all Bendy’s fault. He had tried to kill him. _No, he hadn’t._ He wanted him dead. _No, he did not._ He had chosen a horrible prank. _He didn’t know any better._ He had picked the worst moment to shoot him. _He couldn’t have known._ Henry hated him. He hated him so much. _That wasn’t true._ Henry sighed. Tiredness was quickly taking over him, but he didn’t think he would be able to sleep again for at least another day. Heck, the next couple of days were probably going to be the worst he’d had in some time. He rested his head on his hands.

He was safe.  Or relatively, at least. That’s the one thing he knew he had to remind himself of. If he were back home, maybe he’d be able to convince himself of it. Maybe he’d be able to walk around his house checking the locks. Maybe he’d be able to sit at his desk and draw all night thinking of nothing but how to make the next line less wobbly than the last. Maybe he would be able to scream, kick a wall, do anything that wasn’t hiding. Being there at the studio? There was nothing to keep the feeling of being completely exposed away.

.

.

Bendy rubbed his face for the twentieth time that day. The swelling in his right cheek had started to fade already, but it baffled him that it was there at all. He sat at a table in the coffee break room, his legs swinging lazily from the chair. It had been two days since he’d played his last prank on Henry, and he honestly wasn’t itching to try another one very soon.

It hadn’t been funny. It hadn’t been funny at all. And he couldn’t figure out why. He thought he had done everything correctly.

_He sneaked up on him. The stupid dream cloud was on his way, so he took out a fan and blew it away just enough that he had a clear shot. Grinning, he yelled at him to wake up and waited for Henry to be able to see the gun in his face._

But everything had gone wrong.

_He saw his expression halfway through pressing the trigger. The confetti blasted him in the face like it was supposed to, but Henry only froze. No funny six feet jump, no bouncing on the floor afterwards, no hiding behind a tipped over table. Just silence._

Bendy sighed. Had he used the wrong “ammo”? Maybe Henry was allergic to confetti…? Nah.

_Then Henry opened his eyes, which immediately focused on the barrel of the gun. The old man grabbed at it quicker than he should have been able to and pushed back so hard that the butt of the gun nailed Bendy right in the face. It hurt and it sent him stumbling backwards. Henry hurried to stand up, expertly aiming the rifle right above his head. Not even the man’s short height prevented Bendy from feeling very small with Henry towering over him like that._

He tried to shake it off. He told himself he wasn’t concerned about him. It’s what he had been repeating himself these past days. It had to have been Henry’s fault somehow! What cartoon even got like that after a simple gag?

_The stinging in his right cheek almost went unnoticed as he held his breath. Something at the back of his mind told him that moving at that moment would be the worst thing to do. Instead, he opted for watching him cautiously. Henry’s breathing was erratic. His eyes were rapidly scanning the room, dark circles underneath them. He then looked at Bendy, his pupils dilating a little. He looked at the confetti on himself, and on the ground. He looked at the rifle in his hands. While he didn’t seem to be so alarmed, Bendy took the opportunity to stand up._

Guilt flooded him instantly, like every time he’d thought of blaming Henry. But it hadn’t been his fault either! How could Henry have looked at him like... that? He shivered.

_In an instant, Henry pointed the rifle at him, his breathing accelerating even more. Reflexively, Bendy raised his hands. And Henry’s face changed. Oh, did it change. Bendy couldn’t help flinching under his glare. His eyes were staring at him so hard his pupils began to tremble. There was anger and fear in them. Indignation and… disgust. His jaw was clenched so tightly Bendy couldn’t believe he hadn’t shattered his teeth yet._

Bendy sighed. His hands had automatically started to fidget with the bent gun sitting on the table in front of him.

_He knew the rifle couldn’t hurt him. He knew it was fake. But being at the receiving end of Henry’s anger was making him nervous. When the gun started trembling in his hands, Bendy thought it the moment to try and calm him down. He made the motion to take a step forward._

_“Hen-”_

_“No.”_

_He stopped in his tracks and returned his foot where it had been. He didn’t think he could stand looking at the inside of the gun for a lot longer. Thankfully, Henry started backing away._

_“You. You stay. Right. There.”_

_For once, Bendy didn’t feel like disobeying. He just watched him go. He winced when the door slammed behind Henry. It was a good five minutes before he dared go out through the only exit. He found the rifle short after._

No. This couldn’t keep up like this. He clenched his fists. The only victims there were his friends and him. He deserved getting his revenge on that traitor! So what if his joke had gone a little far? He hadn’t harmed him at all! It was confetti for crying out loud. In any way, he’d already given him enough leisure time. It was time to remind him why he was here.

Nodding to himself, Bendy pushed away from the table, bringing the fake rifle with him. He threw it in the first garbage can he found. No need to keep bad memories. And so he started planning for the future. He would find a long hallway, hopefully with some degree of inclination, and flood one of the ends with an ink pool. Then he would poor slippery goop all over the floor of the hall, and finally he would have a goop filled balloon dangle on the opposite end. That way, when Henry walked under it, Bendy would shoot a dart to pop the balloon, which would blind him and make him slip on the goop. Then he would slide directly into the ink! Yes, that was it. To top it, he could even play a mocking sound with an instrument! He was excited. It was simple, but it would look hilarious. Not having even found the appropriate hallway yet, he decided to take out a balloon and start filling it right away. His strides slowed down, though, when the balloon could barely fit in his hand anymore. He looked at it with a frown. Balloons made a lot of noise when popped, maybe as much as a fake rifle firing. Was there a way he could do this a bit… quieter?

“Bendy?”

The demon almost dropped the balloon right then and there. Shoot! Henry had just appeared from around the corner behind him. He timed himself turning around with putting away the goop filled object so that Henry couldn’t see it. When he finally looked up at him, he barely restrained himself from gasping. The dark circles under Henry’s eyes where even more accentuated than when he’d last see him. He was walking hunched, as if all the energy to do otherwise had left him. Bendy fidgeted as he got close, noticing how the man was tensing up with each step.

“I, uh, was looking for you,” Henry said. His voice was still hoarse. Something in his tone told Bendy he hadn’t really been attempting to find him.

“Oh, really?” Bendy stretched his arms, trying to seem casual. “What for?”

“I… wanted to say sorry…”

“Huh?” Bendy blinked. _He_ wanted to apologize?

“Yeah, it’s just…” Henry sighed and pointed at Bendy’s slightly swollen cheek. “Sorry. For that. It wasn’t part of a gag, so it probably hurt you, didn’t it? Oh, and, sorry about your…” He hesitated. “…toy.”

Bendy couldn’t believe it. He felt a sudden pit in his stomach and a rush of sadness he couldn’t pinpoint the origin of. He said the first thing that came to mind.

“Oh. Well, pffft, c’mon, old man!” He waved his hand dismissively, trying to hide the slight tremble in it. “If ya think a poke like that is going to keep me down so easily, you better think again! And that old thing needed replacing anyway…”

Henry’s mouth twitched upwards for half a second there, and Bendy felt a bit lighter.

“Well, that was it, I guess,” he said as he turned to leave the other way. “I’d ask if I’ll be seeing you around, but…” his voice sounded tired, “I know I will…”

A sudden surge of panic took ahold of Bendy as he saw him walk away. He felt his chest getting tighter. He opened his mouth to call him back, but closed it before anything came out. He didn’t want him to go yet. He wanted him to return.

He wanted to say sorry too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This… turned out a bit longer than the original, lol. As I said, Henry was a bit tricky, because maybe I made him freak out a little more than he would in the AU's canon? And I sooooo wanted to write from both his perspective and Bendy’s perspective. I think it is a bit all over the place, but I really enjoyed making it!  
> Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Please tell me what you think, constructive criticism is always appreciated!


End file.
